When I was 5 months pregnant with Cody and shortly after I found out he had Down Syndrome, a woman in my networking group said “I have two retarded brothers and I just came from a meeting for families of retarded people.”
That was the very first time the word ever stung.
The word never bothered me before. Embarrassingly, I used to use the word in my high school years.
In my ignorance I asked her if the word was even appropriate for a description of her brothers. She said it was.
In my heart, I felt it was such a wrong word. It ranked up there with the four letter words.
In that moment, there was a sting in my heart with the thought that people will probably use that word to make fun of my son. People will use the word “retarded” to describe something or someone they think is dumb or stupid.
My son is NOT dumb or stupid.
He may not do things or achieve goals at the rate that society thinks he should be achieving them at, but he still reaches those goals.
So TAKE THAT!
Today is Spread the Word to End the Word day.
I ask my friends and family to please stop using the word “retarded”.
It hurts.
Out of respect for Cody, I ask you to please not use the word. Especially in front of me.
I don’t reprimand you. I don’t even bring it up when you do it. But know that it does sting.
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